Gomes named permanent director of UH Hilo's North Hawaii Education and Research Center

Farrah-Marie Gomes has been named director at the University of Hawaii at Hilo North Hawaiʻi Education and Research Center in Honokaʻa.

Gomes has been interim director at NHERC since January 2006, presiding over a period of rapid growth for the educational outreach facility, which offers credit and non-credit courses from UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College. In addition, NHERC serves as a community center and a meeting place.

"People in North Hawaiʻi have been waiting for the educational service that NHERC provides for a long time," said Gomes, a Paauilo native who lives in Waimea. "The rising price of fuel plus the distance to Hilo have made our mission to bring higher education to North Hawaiʻi even more important."